Cooking With The Capones

Fettuccine Alla Noce - Fettuccine With Walnuts

2010-10-23T22:19:00.000-07:00

This recipe I came across in the now vintage, The Umberto Menghi Cookbook. I have been adding walnuts to my canneloni recipe this year, and I love the texture it brings. This sauce makes enough for 450 g of fettuccine!

Ingredients:

50 g butter
450 ml whipping cream
200 - 250 g walnuts, shelled and finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese, coarsely grated

Directions:

Cook the Fettuccine al dente 3 to 5 minutes.

Melt butter in a large skillet on medium heat.

Add cream to butter and cook on medium heat until cream begins to bubble.

Add walnuts ( reserving 3 for garnish) to the butter and cream and simmer on medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, allowing the flavour of the walnuts to mix with the cream. Season with salt and pepper.

Add fettuccine to sauce. Toss and heat.

Gradually add Parmesan cheese to the fettuccine. toss together and heat throughly until cheese melts and sauce thickens. Put Fettuccine into a warm serving bowl or on warm plates, Garnish with walnuts, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Yogurt Cake

2009-10-20T15:15:00.000-07:00

Adapted from Chocolate & Zucchin´s Daily Adventures in a Parisisn Kitchen,this has become a family favourite and easy enough for the toddlers to help out with. They look so cute and proud helping out the padres bake!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup vegetable oil, plus 1 teaspoon to grease pan
1 cup of plain yogurt, or vanilla flavoured in a pinch
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
juice of one lemon, optional
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350ºF or 3/4 hot on an Argentine oven (you must live here to understand this). Grease pan including sides. Dust with flour.

In a large bowl mix yogurt and sugar, and add one egg at a time, beating. I like to follow with the lemon juice, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder than the oil. Beating in each ingredient one at a time.

Sift the flour into the above mixture then gently beat in, but do not over stir. Add batter to cake pan and bake for 20 minutes. Then check for doneness. You may need 5 to 10 minutes more depending on the caprichiosoness of your Argentine oven. Do not over bake. Let cool if you can, before eating.

Rice Krispie Treats

2009-07-23T07:11:00.000-07:00

For us in North America, most of us grew up on Rice Krispie® Treats and often it is one of the first things kids learn to make on their own. Here in Argentina, Rice Krispies® are not on the market (but they do have something similar available in some health food stores, nor were the gigantic bags of plain white marshmallows, until very recently). After gifts of the two main ingredients; a ginormous bag of miniature marshmallows from Canada, and a box of Rice Krispies® from Boston, I was able to concoct a batch of my favourite childhood treat last night. Señor Capone shared one with a colleague this morning, and said colleague now thinks I am this amazing chef and my website should be highly promoted (imagine my mother keeling over with laughter rolling on the floor here.)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter
6 cups marshmallows
8 cups Rice Krispies®
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Melt the butter in a large pot over low-medium heat, and add the marshmallows, stirring the mixture until the marshmallows soften then melt. Add the vanilla stirring it in well. Turn off the heat and add the Rice Krispies® stirring until the cereal is well coated with marshmallow goo. Pour into a lightly greased pan or tray and pat down gently with hands. Let set for a few minutes, cut and eat!

Matambre a la Pizza

2009-05-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

Often when I read the menu, the way something is described can be a turn off, but if you do see Matambre a la Pizza on the menu I would recommend it. I tried it for the first time this year as part of our New Years Celebrations. Señor Capone´s mamá brought it over as her contribution. Matambre is a cut of meat either beef or pork, it is a tough cut, so it is softend by boiling in milk for 40 minutes or so. I had my first attempt at making it a couple nights ago following my brother-in-law´s directions below:

hervir el matambre en leche tapando con la leche el matambre sin que se pegue a la olla durante 45 minutos. Llevar al horno con la grasa para abajo a fuego moderado, ni fuerte ni bajo, durante 30 minutos, darlo vuelta poner la grasa para arriba ponerlo en el horno durante 20 minutos a fuego bajo sacarlo y prepararlo como una pizza llevar al horno nuevamente hasta que derrita la muzzarella y si sos pobre porsalú (jajajaja)

My translation:

Matambre either beef or pork

enough full fat milk to cover the meat ( I used a litre for about 1/2 kilo of meat)

Put the meat in a pot and cover with milk. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat, but keep a boil. The milk will curdle. Turn the meat, during this time to make sure all the meat is softened with the milk. Boil for about 45 minutes.

Put the meat in the oven on medium heat. Fat side down. Put the remaining milk fat and water on top of the meat. Cook for about 15 minutes on each side. Prepare the pizza sauce while the meat cooks.

Once the meat is browned, spoon the pizza sauce on top of the meat and add cheese. Cook for another 20 minutes or so and serve.

Tiramisu

2009-03-26T04:50:00.000-07:00

I recently decided to attempt to make Tiramisu for the first time as the second cake for my stepson´s birthday party with the family. Tiramisu always seemed like a mystery, and in my mind difficult to make. But I could not believe how easy it was while researching the recipes. I modified the recipe from Gourmet Magazine, and substituted Ricotta for Mascarpone, and used the remaining Tia María for the espresso syrup.

This recipe makes 8 to 10 servings.

Ingredients

Espresso Syrup

80ml water
125ml sugar
185ml Espresso strongly brewed
100ml Tia María

Ricotta Filling

375ml heavy cream
80ml sugar
10ml vanilla extract
500g Ricotta con crema
250g about 24 Ladyfingers called Vainillas in Argentina
Cocoa Powder

Directions

Syrup

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat, cool. Add coffee and Tia María.

Filling

Whip cream with sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Fold cream into Ricotta.

Assembly

Dip Vainillas quickly into the syrup mixture. Placing dipped vainilla into a shallow 2L baking dish. (I used a large pyrex bowl), creating a layer.
Spread half the filling ontop of the vainillas. Repeat the layering process a second time.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before serving.
Immediately before serving place cocoa in a fine strainer and shake a light coating on surface.

Mustard Curry Encrusted Brotóla

2008-09-02T06:22:00.001-07:00

For this recipe I just eyeball the amount of ingredients, to top the fish with. Brotóla is a white fish that we enjoy eating, but any fish will do.

Ingredients:

400 to 500 g Brotóla
75 g Reggiatano cheese, grated
75 g Bread crumbs
Olive oil
20 ml Powdered Curry
Salt
Whole Mustard Seeds

Directions:

Rinse the fish under cold water and place on a baking tray. Rub the mustard seeds on the fish, be generous!

In a small bowl mix the curry, salt, bread crumbs and cheese, then add the olive oil. Spoon this mixture on top of the fish encrusted with mustard.

Bake in a medium temperature oven. 10 to 15 minutes.

Wheat Tortillas - Tortillas de harina

2008-07-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

I have never made any sort of flat bread before. I have been researching the internet for tortilla recipes for over a year, but became a little overwhelmed thinking I needed a special tortilla maker to shape the darn things.

Over at Orangette, my prayers were answered. The recipe is simple, although I find it is a little easier to shape the tortillas into closer to perfect circles using a little more dough, dividing it into 12 or 10 rather than the recommended 18.

Wheat Tortillas

Ingredients:

4 cups of flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
6 Tablespoons Vegetable Shortening (Vegetalina in Argentina)
2 cups boiling water

Directions:

Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the Vegetalina, using your hands rub into the flour mixture until it becomes like cornmeal. Make a well in the center add about 1 1/2 cups of the water, stir in with a wooden spoon. Ojo! It is quite hot, when it starts to form, you can start to use your hands. Knead for 2 to 5 minutes. Let rest for 30 minutes.

Cut ball into 2, and further divide each of these balls into 6 or 9, whatever. Roll out each of these into a thin circle, using a little flour to prevent sticking.

In a pan, cook for about a minute on each side until lightly golden on a medium heat.

Pomodoro Sauce

2008-04-27T12:15:00.001-07:00

Sunday is the traditional day for Pasta in Argentina. Today Mr. T took over the cooking duties, and he certainly out did himself with this deceivingly simple and insanely delicious Pomodoro Sauce, for our Ravioli.

Ingredients:
1 fresh and very ripe tomato
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. sugar
salt
pepper
pimentón
1 cup tomato puree
1 olive
2 cloves of garlic
2 laurel leaves
basil leaves chopped
splash of red wine

Directions:
- Put to boil some water. Score a cross with a knife at the end of the tomato (not the stem side). Blanche the tomato for 30 seconds. Now the skin can be removed easily.

- Finely chop the tomato to a puree consistency. Put into a sauce pan.

- Add olive oil, sugar and splash of red wine. Let is simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste.

- Add tomato puree and the laurel leaves to the mix. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes.

- Remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped olive and garlic, pepper, pimentón and basil.

Enjoy with two plates of pasta cooked al dente.

* Recommended to have some fresh bread on hand to clean the plate of the sauce after eating all the pasta.

Finally! I lost my virginity!

2008-04-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

The virginity of using yeast in baking. I have been very intimidated forever, but after reading Orangette´s blog and following her recipe to a T, the Cinnamon Buns turned out perfectly, well except the first batch burned slightly, as we only have two temperatures on an Argentine Stove, Hot and Hotter!

Also, I do not have any fancy kitchen equipment, and a simple tablespoon sufficed in place of the stand mixer. We even had Philadelphia Cream Cheese in the refrigerator, so having the Cream Cheese Glaze ending made losing my baking with yeast virginity complete.

Dough:
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups (or more) unbleached all purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 1/4 teaspoons rapid-rise yeast (from 2 envelopes yeast)
1 teaspoon salt
Nonstick vegetable oil spray

Filling:
3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

Glaze:
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

For dough:
Combine milk and butter in glass measuring cup. Microwave on high until butter melts and mixture is just warmed to 120°F to 130°F, 30 to 45 seconds. Pour into bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add 1 cup flour, sugar, egg, yeast, and salt. Beat on low speed 3 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Add 21/2 cups flour. Beat on low until flour is absorbed and dough is sticky, scraping down sides of bowl. If dough is very sticky, add more flour by tablespoonfuls until dough begins to form ball and pulls away from sides of bowl. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if sticky, about 8 minutes. Form into ball.

Lightly oil large bowl with nonstick spray. Transfer dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

For filling:
Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in medium bowl.

Punch down dough. Transfer to floured work surface. Roll out to 15x11-inch rectangle. Spread butter over dough, leaving 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar evenly over butter. Starting at 1 long side, roll dough into log, pinching gently to keep it rolled up. With seam side down, cut dough crosswise with thin sharp knife into 18 equal slices (each about 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide).

Spray two 9-inch square glass baking dishes with nonstick spray. Divide rolls between baking dishes, arranging cut side up (there will be almost no space between rolls). Cover baking dishes with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, 40 to 45 minutes.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. Bake rolls until tops are golden, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and invert immediately onto rack. Cool 10 minutes. Turn rolls right side up.

For glaze:
Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat until smooth. Spread glaze on rolls. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Ex-Presidental Empanadas

2008-04-27T07:44:00.000-07:00

The following recipe for Empanadas Carne is from the city of Salta which is famous for their Empanadas. It is also the recipe for the Empanadas the Ex-President M_ _ _ _ ate for his daily Empanada quota.

*Just for the record, the man hands in the following pictures are actual man hands and not mine, my hands are very delicate and lily white.

One Kilo of Bola de Lomo (just find a hunk of meat that has very little fat through it)
750 grams white onions
One large potato
4 eggs
250 grams green onions
a little sugar
salt
pepper
pimentan

vegetable oil (Tenderflake or Crisco)
Empanada wraps (Or if you really want to be Martha or as I prefer Nigella, make your own)

1.Mince the carne

2.Cook the white onions and carne together on stove. Add a little salt, a little sugar and some pepper.
While this mixture is cooking, boil your eggs, and you can conserve pots by cooking the diced potatoes with the eggs. When ready, add pimentan and potatoes to the carne mixture.

3. Dice your green onions. Alway add the green onions to the carne mixture, when it has finished cooking. NEVER COOK THE GREEN ONIONS!

4. Dice up the eggs into fine pieces and add to mixture. Let the mixture cool.

5. Very lightly dampen the edges of the Empanada wrap with water. Add about a heaping tablespoon and a bit in the middle.

6. Pinch and crimp edges together to form a half circle.

7. Deep fry until golden or bake until golden!

8. Eat, red wine is particularly good with Empanadas and if I remember correctly,the Los Torrontes varietal grown in Salta is the best white wine for Empanadas.

Pancakes

2008-02-16T11:55:00.000-08:00

sift:
one cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
one-quarter teaspoon salt (not needed)

beat and add:
one egg (optional)

add:
1 cup milk (scant)
stir gradually to make smooth
add:
1 teaspoon melted butter or oil

cook in a hot frying pan, flip pancakes when they bubble, to brown the other side.

Serve with Canadian maple syrup or even Argentine Dulce de Leche.

Guimauve á la Grenadine

2008-02-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

Fifteen years ago my friend Leah gave me a recipe for homemade marshmallows. I never got around to making them, it seemed so intimidating. I have never seen commercial packaged marshmallow here in Buenos Aires, but have been collecting recipes here and there. It was this recipe that finally made me jump into action. They looked so delectable, so French! Not like the pasty, puffy common marshmallow that I know.

Flavourings are a little harder to find, C&Z recommends Rose Syrup, alas Rose Water is very dear here, so I thought I would substitute the Rose for Grenadine Syrup. Also I thought this way the guimauve-marshmallow would have a lovely rosy hue. Well it turned out to be more bisque. I took the recipe from Chocolate and Zucchini but followed the directions from Martha Stewart, and had to improvise a little.

Ingredients:

14 grams gelatin - gelatina sin sabor
3 egg whites - claras
40 grams honey - miel
230 grams sugar - azúcar
4 tsp Grenadine - Granadina

Directions:

1. Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper, papel manteca. Put sugar, honey, and 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring; let mixture come to a boil. Raise heat to medium-high; cook until mixture registers 260 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over 3/4 cup water in a heatproof bowl; let stand 5 minutes to soften. Set the bowl with the gelatin mixture over a pan of simmering water; whisk constantly until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat, and stir in extract; set aside.
3. Beat egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Whisk gelatin mixture into sugar mixture; with mixer running, gradually add to egg whites. Mix on high speed until very thick, 12 to 15 minutes.
4. Pour mixture into lined pan. Let marshmallow stand, uncovered, at room temperature until firm, at least 3 hours or overnight. Cut into squares.

On day two:

1.Combine the confectioner's sugar and potato or corn starch in a wide, shallow bowl.

2.Have ready a mug of very hot water. Lift the parchment paper to remove the guimauve from the pan, and transfer the whole thing carefully to a cutting board, and cut the guimauve into squares, using a sharp knife that you'll dip in the mug to keep the blade warm.

3.Transfer the cubes of guimauve three at a time, using your fingers to separate them delicately, into the prepared bowl, and coat them well. The cubes will have a maddening tendency to stick to one another, to your fingers, and to the bowl (the top surface is especially sticky), so keep them separate and handle them lightly.

4.Once coated, set the cubes aside on a plate, and leave them out to dry for 2 or 3 hours, flipping them halfway through. Transfer them in a fine-mesh sieve a handful at a time, and shake over the sink to remove the excess confectioner's sugar powder.

Creamy Chilled Cheesecake

2008-02-05T07:35:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs*
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Butter -- Melted

Cheesecake Filling:
1 each Env. Unflavored Gelatin
1/4 cup Cold Water
8 ounces Cream Cheese -- Softened**
1/2 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Milk
1/4 cup Lemon Juice
1 cup Whipping Cream -- Whipped
Strawberry Halves

Instructions:
Combine Crumbs, sugar, and margarine; press onto bottom of 9-inch spring- form pan.
Soften gelatin in water; stir over low heat until dissolved. Mix in with lemon and milk mixture, set aside.
Combine cream cheese and sugar, mixing at medium speed on electric mixer until well blended. Then blend in the lemon milk mixture. Chill until slightly thickened; fold in whipped cream. Pour over crust; chill until firm.
Top with strawberries before serving.

* So far I have not found Graham Crackers here in Argentina, but Mini Miel Galletitas have made a great substitute.

** I have substituted Casancrem and Mendicreme with great success

Once I was lazy and basically just put everything together and whipped it up. I let it set for about 5 hours, before I could not stand it anymore and just had to eat it right then and there. Well, it was not very firm and started falling apart. So I threw it into the freezer. It ended up that this cake is very tasty and refreshing frozen, especially with summer temperatures of 38ºC outside. The next time I make this cheesecake I will freeze it again.

Elodie's Chocolate Cake

2008-02-05T07:28:00.000-08:00

You need not be a purist and only use bittersweet chocolate, semi sweet is just as good and regular butter is fine if you don't want to buy unsalted. In Argentina, all butter; manteca is unsalted unless specified.

Ingredients:
10 oz Bittersweet chocolate; chop
1 c Unsalted butter
Cut into small pieces
5 lg Eggs
1 1/4 c Sugar
5 Tbsp All purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
Powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325~F. Butter and flour 10-inch- diameter springform pan with 2-3/4-inch-high sides. Stir in chocolate and butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Beat eggs and

1-1/4 cups sugar in large bowl until well blended and
beginning to thicken. Sift flour and baking powder over eggs and fold in. Gradually fold in chocolate mixture. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake cake 20 minutes. Cover pan with foil. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs still attached, about 30 minutes longer. Uncover cake; cool in pan on rack (cake will fall as it cools.) (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; let stand at room temperature.) Cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Release pan sides. Sift powdered sugar over cake; cut into wedges.

Butter Chicken

2007-12-17T05:37:00.000-08:00

This recipe was given to us from Manjit´s mother and is really easy to make. I was always intimidated by attempting to create Indian Cuisine, thinking it to have some sort of mysterious and mystical process. Getting the balance of curry takes a bit of practice, but it is always tasty, regardless.

Ingredients:

700 - 900 grams chicken breast
4 cloves of garlic diced
1 large onion
sugar, optional
500 grams tomato sauce, you may or may not use the entire amount
salt
chili
garam masala*
oil
cream or coconut milk

Directions:

Cook Chicken in some oil until just cooked, no need to brown. Remove from pan.
Sauté the onions until golden, I add a little sugar and then add garlic, the curry, cumin, salt and chili to taste. Stirring well.
Add tomato sauce, depending on the amount of chicken and how saucy you want the butter chicken to be, I add the tomato sauce slowly, often checking the taste to suit our liking and not to over dilute the flavour. Simmer for 20 minutes or so, then add the chicken to the mixture and simmer for 10 minutes further. Add a little cream or coconut milk.
Serve with rice. I prefer Jasmine Rice.

* I use powdered Spicy Indian Curry and some extra cumin in place of Garam Masala due to the outrageous price of Garam Masala, here in Argentina.

Afterawhile and after doing some research I have been adding more spices to give the Butter Chicken a fuller flavour. Ground Coriander, Turmeric, Ground Ginger, Cinnamon, Pimenton. It is all very tasty, there is still something I can not quite figure out yet that is missing...

Peanut Butter aka Pasta de Mani

2007-11-14T14:24:00.000-08:00

On the ex-pat living in Argentina sites, they are always whining about where to find Peanut Butter. Well you can find it here, it is called Pasta de Mani and you can get it with or without sugar. I purchase mine in Barrio Chino, it is a little less expensive than purchasing it in the Bonbonería (Candy store) around the corner from, which stocks the same brand. Most supermercados do not stock Pasta de Mani, but I hear you can find it at JUMBO. This peanut butter certainly isn´t like the typical kind like Skippy or Squirrel, which has a lot of other additives, it is more natural, made with just peanuts!

Peanut Sauce

2007-11-14T14:07:00.000-08:00

My Peanut Sauce isn´t an exact science. Plop all the ingredients into a small pan on low flame. But stir in the water until you get the consistency you want. Voila Peanut Sauce. Excellent to top Cold Vietnamese Salads, Spring Rolls or whatever you fancy really. Mr.Tango will use it like regular peanut butter on bread.

Ingredients:

* 125 g pasta de mani-peanut butter
* 15 ml azucar-sugar
* 10 ml pasta de ajies picantes-chili paste
or aji-chili
* shake in some vinegre de arroz-rice vinegar
* agua-water
* sprinkle of sal-salt
* shake in some salsa de soja-soya sauce
* bit of grated ginimbre-ginger
* fresh ajo-garlic or dehydrated garlic...whatever

Directions:

Mix together ingredients in saucepan on low. Add water until you get desired consistancy of sauce. That´s it, that´s all!

Mr. Tango´s Crepe Recipe

2007-11-12T08:10:00.000-08:00

Mr. Tango is a master at making crepes. You can use this recipe to make Canneloni, as a meal for breakfast or a dessert.

Para 10 unidades:

Ingredientes:

3 huevos grandes-large eggs
30 grs. de manteca-butter
1 y 3/4 tazas de leche-milk
1 taza de harina-flour
1 cucharada de té de sal-salt
1 cucharada de té de polvo de hornear-baking powder
4 cucharadas de azúcar-sugar

opcional pancakes:
1 taza de leche en polvo-powdered milk

Preparación:

Derretir la manteca y agregarla a los huevos. Batir para homogeneizar.
Disolver el azúcar con la leche entibiada. (Eventualmente agragar la taza de leche en polvo). Agregarla la leche a los huevos.
Espolvorear una cucharadita de polvo de hornear y otra de sal a la mezcla.
Continuar batiendo a la vez que se le agrega la harina, tamizándola con un colador.
Cocinar usando una panquequera tomando la mezcla con una medida de 1/4 de taza.

Maizena

2007-11-11T16:59:00.000-08:00

Almidón de Maiz (Cornstarch in English) is known here in Argentina as Maizena. If you ask for Almidón de Maiz, it is possible they won´t even know what you are talking about. There seems to only be one brand that I am aware of and in the supermercados they keep it on the shelf with the cereals. Sometimes you will also find Maizena in the Farmacia.

Blueberry Ginger Ricotta Cheesecake

2007-11-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

It was Mr. Tango´s birthday yesterday, so I modified The Sicilian Ricotta Cheesecake and used the left over Shortbread Cookie dough for a crust and added a Blueberry Ginger Topping.

Pre-bake the Shortbread cookie dough in the bottom of pan, just press it in covering the bottom, bake for about 10 or 15 minutes on low, until the crust turns to a light golden colour. You can do this the night before to save time.

Ginger Ricotta Cheesecake:
INGREDIENTS:

* 750 g ricotta cheese
* 120 g white sugar
* 30 g all-purpose flour
* 3 eggs
* 0.6 g grated ginger
* 4 g orange zest
* 10 ml vanilla extract
* 0.8 g salt (*oops i forgot to add)

DIRECTIONS:

1. **Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Set rack in the middle of the oven. Butter and flour a *6 1/2 inch springform pan, and ***tap out excess flour.
2. Place the ricotta in a large mixing bowl, and stir it as smooth as possible with a rubber spatula. Stir the sugar and flour together thoroughly into the ricotta. Stir in the eggs 1 at a time. Blend in the vanilla, cinnamon, orange zest, and salt. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake in the center of the oven for about ****1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, until a light golden color. Make sure the center is fairly firm, and the point of a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. It will sink slightly as it cools. Cover, and chill till serving time.

* Forgot to add the salt!

** In Argentina our ovens basically have 2 settings low and hot, I used low

*** Forgot to butter and flour pan

**** I used a Pan Dulce Spring Form Pan, which is about 6.5" and much taller. Cooking time was about 90 to 105 minutes more or less.

Blueberry Ginger Topping:
INGREDIENTS

* 250 g blueberry jam
* 75 ml water
* bit of grated ginger
* 15 mls maizena (corn starch)
* 15 mls sugar

In a small pot warm jam, ginger, water and sugar, stirring out lumps.
Add some of the warmed liquid to a cup and add maizena through a sieve, stir thoughly and add back into mixture on stove. Keep stirring until thickens...you can put in the freezer for a bit to cool down before adding to top of cake.

End result:
I was a bit worried the crust would burn in the second baking phase, sooooo I read that you could bake the cheesecake in a bath water. Well little good was that! My pan was not hermetically sealed and some water seeped in. So I dumped out the water as best I could and poured the batter back into the bowl to drain out the remaining water. The crust became a bit damp, but in the end once the baking was done everything was perfectly fine...crust and all. I found the ginger flavour did not come through in the cake, so I will try and add more the next time, but I could taste it in the blueberry topping. All together the ingredients added up to around 11 pesos more or less, pretty good considering a small cheesecake costs about 30 pesos, or 10.50 for a slice with coffee at Bonafide.

Shortbread Cookies

2007-11-11T06:01:00.000-08:00

Shortbread Cookies are my favourite. To me it is the taste of Christmas! I started baking them for Mr.Tango and Munchkin and now little Munchkin refuses to eat prepackaged cookies. He woke up the other night at 2am and demanded galle, we told him I had to bake them first, so Munchkin took me by the hand and said vamos and led me to the kitchen to bake some for him.
For some unknown reason I have lost my cookie baking mojo and keep burning them, so this duty has been delegated to Mr.Tango. In fact, I think he bakes a better cookie than me.

Shortbread Cookies
INGREDIENTS:

* 125 g maizena - cornstarch
* 125 g azucar impalpable - icing sugar
* 250 g harina - flour
* 175 g manteca - butter

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat the Argentina oven to low or 325ºF.

Cream butter,I then add each dry ingredient individually creaming it into the butter icing sugar, cornstarch and lastly the flour.

Roll into 1" balls on baking tray and flatten with a fork.

Bake 10 to 15 minutes in Argentine oven, watching carefully (bake on lowest rack), in an oven with temperature control they may take 20 to 25 minutes.

We enjoy eating the Shortbread plain, but once they have cooled you can make the cookies cross cultural by adding Dulce de Leche in between two cookies and create an Alfajore.